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Age 8 And Wanting A Sex Change

Part of Channel 4’s Bodyshock series, this documentary featured, as per the title, children as young as 8 years old who were suffering from gender dysphoria. This condition means that the children featured were/are convinced they were born in the “wrong” bodies and their parents have taken the decision to take on board their child’s deep-seated longing to be the opposite sex.

It can’t be easy on them. And of course, it’s not easy on their kids either but for parents, accepting such an enormous shift in their fundamental thinking about their own child must have been exceptionally traumatic. They must also fear for their child’s future and, if the kids go ahead and have gender reassignment surgery, there’s the sorrow to come that they can never have a child naturally.

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  1. encouraging children for money. It;s sick . Problems stem from home.

  2. i had sex

  3. What if it’s a strong sense of sexual identity carried over from a past life? Anyone looked into the cases studied by Dr Ian Stevenson and his department at the University of Virginia?

  4. in other words these people are turning their children into transvestites WTF is western society coming to. Too much freedom and choice poses a threat to humanity

  5. As progressive as I am, something about this still seems very wrong. They are just too young, and since when does being a girl just about wearing skirts and nail polish?!

  6. I think Angelina and Brad ( Jolie Pitt’s) child Shiloh is also discovering that she/he  prefers being a boy, and I think the Parents are doing the right thing by letting her be who she/he wants to be………….modern age parents.

  7. I know a transgender person that was born a girl but always insisted that “she” was a boy since “she” was very young, far too young to have a concept about sexuality so I’m sure that was not the case. To be fair “she” was very boyish physically, with “her” hair cut short and boyish clothes “she” could fool a lot of people.
    “Her” dream was always to get to get a gender change as soon as “she” was legally allowed.
    Instead “she” took “her” own own life before getting to realize that dream after being raped by a couple of boys.
    Ain’t life funny.

  8. It was dificult for me as a mother of two boys to watch this documentarie, but very interesting at the same time. I admire the corage of the boys and girls who go through this situation in their lives as early as five years old. I admire the parents that have the strenght and love to help their kids through the transsition. Our society is still cruel when it comes to this matters. I really hope for these kids the best in their lifes, and always think that god makes us all, and if he makes you that way is because there is nothing, nothing at all wrong with you. No matter what sex you are born with or what sex you choose to be in life, what really matters is the kind of person you are inside. Best of luck !!

  9. Truly amazing, and wonderful.

  10. Nice video! 🙂

    I wander when I was young I had a family to suport me too…
    Now I’m still stuck in this male body…  🙁

  11. This is a stupid disease bloody hack. Stupid kids and parents . 

  12. People say that because of their young age and lack of experiences, these children cannot decide if they want a sex change. This seems to me to be contradictory, as children who keep their genders don’t have any adult experiences either, yet still they are committed to a gender. If it was really a matter of experiencing life and then deciding what gender to be, then it wouldn’t be determined at birth.

    These children know what they want. Nothing in the outside world “caused” that and nothing “happened” to them. The parents are not “doing” something to their children, they are simply letting them be who they are and helping them grow.
    This is a wonderful documentary and it was very inspiring and hopeful. Many thanks to the producers for creating such a deep and intimate piece.

  13. It all goes back to what does the child want. Kyla really acted excited to be a girl, but to me, it seemed like the mom was too excited to have a Josey.

  14. btw parents shouldnt let children care that much about their look!!!!

    That’s incredibly stupid! 

  15. I don’t think kids can define if they want to be a girl or a boy.. I am a boy, I played with girl toys for a while in my youth, I sometimes dressed up like girl. Maybe this feeling is stronger with other young boys or girls, but they simply don’t have enough live experience to say to themselves: ‘I don’t want to have a penis/vagina’ . Their sexorgans aren’t full grown yet, so they dont know what these organs rly mean. Ofcourse anyone can have a sexchange, but not when not mature. It’s just too young. Decisions based on gender can not be made when not grown up, cos someone with a not fullgrown sexorgan doenst know it’s sexual identity. 

    Then there’s probably a bunch of parents who don’t know what to do with a child wanting to be the othre gender. My parents just let me play with girl toys as well, but when I said I wanted to be a girl, they just let me dress up like one and didnt tell me any more. Some things maybe shouldnt be said to kids. Ofcourse a kid is gonna nag when he wants to be the other sex if he knows that it’s possible to get another sex. The ppl in this film just made a mistake, even if those kids are totally convinced, then still. A kid of 9 years old shouldnt know that sex change is possible. Some knowledge is dangerous at some age. Ofcourse there are kids who still want a sex change when grown up, but the ones who did it too early will regret it painfully.Btw when not grown up, gender shouldnt matter that much. Kids kan nag rly much, but nagging shouldnt lead parents to let their kids decide about their sex.

  16. I agree most of the comments on here. I find it tasteless that the narrator kept using the pronoun that refers to their biological gender. And the kids’ faces when they were asked questions such as if they were sure they’re girls/boys, and not their biological gender. That was absolutely heartbreaking, and they looked offended! Why is it so hard to just accept them as they are?

  17. The misgendering is so terrible. It just shows how uneducated the filmmakers were about the issue if they aren’t able to even grasp the basics of sensitivity. Regardless, it was a good look at transgender children, and these are some great parents.

  18.  That son of a bitch Chris is better looking than I am! This is bullshit!

  19.  She not HE. She wants to be a girl. I wish people could learn to be more respectable towards kids like this.

    •  I didn’t find it disrespectful. I actually think it was a good choice on the part of the filmmakers. They narrator kind of serves as an objective, outside observer. Hearing the family calling the children “she” and the narrator calling them “he” (reminding the viewer that the child IS a biological male) helps to expose the very conflict the documentary is about. I don’t think it was intentionally done to be rude and I certainly don’t think they just ‘forgot about it’. I think the filmmakers wanted to take as clinical, objective a view as possible.

  20. Ladyboys in thailand

  21. Also available from here for UK people who can’t access it via youtube.

    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/bodyshock/4od#3009991

  22. A wonderful documentary! I believe this phenomenon is a lot more common that we think. I occasionally meet adult people who are born into the wrong sex through my job, and the stories they tell, are often both sad and deeply touching. 7
    I truly admire the parents featured in this documentary- they SEE their children, and take their feelings seriously. They are supportive, loving, caring and open-minded. Kudos!
    The sex is not important- it`s WHO you are, and what you`re made of that matters.

  23. From about age 4, I used to think that if I wished hard enough, I’d wake up and magically be a boy. I tried to use the toilet standing up, only wore boy’s clothes and had short hair. In time, the desire to become a boy just passed although I retained many of my “tomboy” tendencies. I always got along better with guys and I still do, but I no longer desire to be one.

    I am not trying to discredit anyone who is born transgendered, as I have a friend who recently underwent surgery to have a male body. He had many years of therapy to help adjust to the hormones and the transition to living in society as a male. He is also an adult.

    My case differed from his, because while mine faded (I had no pressure to conform by my parents) his did not.

    Because of my own experience, I don’t feel that an 8 year old is capable of deciding their true gender identity yet, as it takes time to develop this as well as the hormonal changes that may (or may not) come with puberty.

    Please just give them time to experience the world and the roller-coaster of puberty before basing your child’s identity on them saying they want to be the opposite sex. Making it a huge deal and indulging this too deeply, may only serve to confuse a child as they get to puberty and they find they have ‘outgrown’ what could be a phase. Mine was a passion that simmered down over time. Others, it truly is who they are meant to be and that’s fine too.

    • YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT
      the fact that all these parents are so emotional makes me even think that they don’t know how to deal with it, the music in the background suggests that we’re dealing with a serious problem.. Acutally, the way ppl react to this, like omg these parents are so caring, make me pissed off!!! 
      Use your common sense people!

    • YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT
      the fact that all these parents are so emotional makes me even think that they don’t know how to deal with it, the music in the background suggests that we’re dealing with a serious problem.. Acutally, the way ppl react to this, like omg these parents are so caring, make me pissed off!!! 
      Use your common sense people!

    • YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT
      the fact that all these parents are so emotional makes me even think that they don’t know how to deal with it, the music in the background suggests that we’re dealing with a serious problem.. Acutally, the way ppl react to this, like omg these parents are so caring, make me pissed off!!! 
      Use your common sense people!

    • YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT
      the fact that all these parents are so emotional makes me even think that they don’t know how to deal with it, the music in the background suggests that we’re dealing with a serious problem.. Acutally, the way ppl react to this, like omg these parents are so caring, make me pissed off!!! 
      Use your common sense people!

      • My sister also went through a phase when she wanted to be a boy, she told everyone she was a boy and insisted we call her a boy, we just went *shrug* yeah alright, sometime after that she wanted to be a cowboy, if she had told everyone she wanted to be an elephant we would have gone *shrug* yeah alright, because she was a little kid. Other kids I know have insisted that they want to be called by a different name, insisted that they’re a puppy, insisted they have an imaginary friend. They’re kids, kids go through different phases.

        BUT that is INCREDIBLY different to contemplating self mutilation, we are mostly seeing parents that have reached the accepting stage, we’re not seeing ALL they did to try and “right” their child, or the many health care professionals that each of these children would have seen and been evaluated by.

        We can’t compare the two things and think they they will simply “outgrow” their gender identity and also the medication to delay the onset of puberty IS to give them more time but to prevent perminent damage being done. As a woman (in sex and gender) I would be horrified if I had a penis or if I had to go through life, even after surgury, always being “masculine” to a certain extent, ESPECIALLY if something could have been done to prevent it

  24. It makes sense that these young people are being supported. If gender is natural, then why would we need to police it? As for the doctor comments I read, the top notch doctors who have been updated on the most current information are supportive of young people’s gender identity (not the one’s other people pick for them.) And, yeah, what was up with the voice over?

  25. and they are so caring as well.

  26. These comments are so disgusting. The parents have nothing wrong with them. It is like saying you’re sick for what you believe. I think these are some of the most supportive, caring, thoughtful, understanding, affectionate, and loving parents in the world that these kids could ever ask for.

  27. Really eye-opening documentary… very sensitive to the plight of transgendered children…
    but the voiceover uses the wrong pronouns. If the child, parents, friends, etc. call the child “he” why do the documentarians INSIST on “she”? Most definitely not helping the child be seen as the sex they feel.

    • I agree; it made me a little angry that the narrator kept using the wrong pronoun when referring to these kids, however, if it really is a legal issue, I think the narrator should have striven to use the child’s name as much as possible instead of pronouns all together. I also think that our society puts far too much pressure and meaning into the things you wear and the toys you choose. Let kids just do what feels right and they will express themselves as they truly are.

    • its all based around the laws and a safe issue in the world of media today.. its the same with names etc. Its to stop them from coming in a few years time and sending them to court on the ground of that she/he was never actually a boy or girl. I currectly studed media in college and hope to move on the making film and docs in my later life so i have to learn it.

  28. I was surprised how maturely the “girls” and their mothers could talk about this. It’s still messed up.

  29. wow these people are messed up, they did not interview enough shrinks, i think the moms are the leading cause of the gender dysphoria or watev its called and should have child services called on them, mom was that disappointed she did not have a girl that she had to coach her sun into thinking he was a girl……..wow…….wow call child services some one and get some real good docs to look at the parents tooo